Women in Paktika province have not benefited from the myriad government and other programmes for women’s empowerment.
Paktika in the south-east of the country shares a border with Pakistan.
Paktika in the south-east of the country shares a border with Pakistan. The porous border has made it open to insurgent attacks.
A people under siege say nothing really has changed in their lives since Hamid Karzai took over as president.
Bibi Hawa Khoshiwal, head of women’s affairs in the province, is outspoken. “We have frequently suggested different programmes from PRT and other international aid agencies but none of our suggestions have been approved.” PRT or Provincial Reconstruction Teams have delivered assistance at the provincial and district levels.
Nazifa a resident of Urgone district, Paktika, says women’s economic and social position has not improved in the province.
Nekbakhta lives in Sharan, the provincial capital. She wonders why the countless programmes for women’s empowerment implemented in other provinces have not been brought to Paktika.
Abdul Bari wonders if it is because of the overall underdevelopment of the province. Women have no rights, he adds. “Cultural limitations, weak economy, illiteracy, insecurity and other problems have pushed women into seclusion,” he observes.
Bibi Khoshiwal urges the provincial government to implement women’s programmes through the women’s affairs department and civil society organisations. Women’s status has to improve in insecure provinces like Paktika, she pleads.
Bibi Khoshiwal says women are eager to use opportunities for empowerment. Last year, 500 women in Yusuf Khil district were instructed in tailoring. Most of them are now using the new skill to earn a modest livelihood, she adds.
Violence against women is also a concern in Paktika. Twelve cases of wife beating and torture were registered with the women’s affairs directorate last year.
In remote areas of the province women and girls continue to be forced into marriage, and given in “bad” – a custom where families marry off their daughters to settle feuds.
Abdul Rahman, a tribal leader, confirms the practice is widely prevalent.
Outside Paktika
Afghan women continue to suffer. Madina Rezaei has been witness to the violence women suffer. “Most times women think that to object to the violence in public is to disgrace themselves, and not disgrace the men in the house or the community,” she believes. This is because they are socialised to accept patriarchy, she feels. “Under patriarchy no one dare tells the men, ‘there is eyebrow over your eyes’. They hold women responsible for male crimes, and disgrace women,” she explains.
Maisam Bayat, a student of social sciences at Kabul University, says she knows a woman who was sexually exploited by a man and then accepted his proposal of marriage without any conditions. Has it been a happy marriage? “Her life has passed with numerous problems,” she replies. In a society that blames women for rape the victims are often married off to their abusers who walk away free.
The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has reported an increase in violence against women in the country this year.
Latifa Sultani, the coordinator of women’s rights in AIHRC, said most of the cases were of so-called honour killings and sexual assaults. “The commission recorded 700 instances of violence against women within first four months of 2013. This is an estimated increase of 25 to 30 percent,” she said.
According to her, a review of the 243 cases of “honour” killings showed 143 cases were of girls less than 18 years. As many as 90 cases were of forced marriages, and more than half the victims were under age. The legal age of marriage for Afghan women is 16 years.
